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UKR Wraps up Fall 2016's Tuesday Tunes

By Kirsten Coachman | Additional reporting by Donte Burney

On Nov. 15, Urban Knights Radio held their final Fall 2016 Tuesday Tunes event, which featured San Francisco/Oakland-based band Proto. The Bay Area band, comprised of members Tim, Nick, Mark and Zach, performed a lively 30-minute set at the UKR station, featuring songs off of their 2016 EP, Sofa Prince, as well as their 2015 self-titled EP.

The band’s music incorporates melodic rock with funk and synth-driven sounds. They shared that it’s partly due to their musical influences, which include Tame Impala, John Frusciante, Jimi Hendrix and Motown artists.

San Francisco/Oakland-based band Proto performing at UKR’s Tuesday Tunes. Photo by Kirsten Coachman.

“I think all of us, probably particularly Mark, because he’s the principle songwriter, lately have been listening to music that’s sort of keyboard-driven, synth-driven,” Nick explained. “But then I think a lot of it is when we first started, it was me and Mark in my garage, and the only instrument we had was a drum set and a keyboard, so that’s kind of how it became ... a project that was sort of synth-dominated.”

For Mark, the influence of synth-based sounds started with a video of Roger Troutman from Zapp. “It was a BET performance from 1984, and it’s probably the coolest music performance I’ve ever seen,” he shared. “I really dig the kind of ‘ro-bo’ sound it makes. We all have very different influences and I think that’s what helps mold our sound, because it’s a little bit of everything. I like it, because I really like video game music and the robotic sound that comes out of it. Little bit of funk, little bit of video gamey stuff.”

Proto has played a lot of parties and venues around the city and the Bay Area, but are looking branch out to “try and hit some new audiences” and “find other other local bands to play with” in the new year.